Want to make it memorable

Hello,

I%26#39;m taking my husband and our four year old daughter to Berlin w/c 26th Oct. It is our first trip there and my treat for his 50th. We are staying at a Marriott because I got a good deal. I%26#39;d appreciate any advice you might have on where to spend our 3 to 4 days. He loves architecture, traditional and modern, is v interested in the history of Berlin particularly the second WW, and the wall and loves art. On the other hand I have a four year old that much prefers swing parks. Thankfully the hotel has a pool! Any advice would be much appreciated. We%26#39;d also like an evening out so some sort of entertainment - we can be pretty daring.

Many thanks!

Allison

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Hi Allison,

for history I can recommed %26quot;Story of Berlin%26quot; on Kurfürstendamm.It shows Berlins history from the early beginning to modern times and compares life in the eastern and western part. At some times of the day they walk you through a bunker from the cold war, which is in the next bulding. Very impressive and intimidating imo.

For entertaining: Friedrichstadtpalast! On friedrichstadtpalast.de you find all informations in english.

See visitberlin.de for special programs with kids.In english too.

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Hi

thanks so much, that%26#39;s really helpful.

Very excited about our first trip to Germany/Berlin

best wishes

Allison

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Architecture isn%26#39;t really my thing, but I can help with the Second World War stuff. For Second World War history, check out some of the walking tour companies (particularly Insider Tours, Brewer%26#39;s, and Berlin Walks) as they offer Third Reich-themed tours of central Berlin with stops at a lot of 1933-1945 sites. If you%26#39;re unable to find such a tour on the day you want, consider taking one of their standard Berlin history walks, which will cover a lot of WW2 sites anyway. Have a look:

http://www.berlinwalks.com/

http://www.insidertour.com/

http://www.brewersberlintours.com/

Take a look at Berliner Unterwelt (Berlin underworld) website. berliner-unterwelten.de/seite-nicht-gefunden…

They offer tours of things like rair raid shelters, etc. This might be a neat experience for a WW2 buff.

The German History Museum is excellent.

Normally I strongly recommend (for those with an interest in the period) a visit to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, but with your young child, perhaps not a good idea, that. For similar reasons maybe not the Wannsee Conference House.

I do think a themed tour would work well for your husband.

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DDR-Museum (on Spreeufer opposite the cathedral) is interactive so eg you can sit in a Trabant, look in kitchen cupboards etc. Also good with a small child in that it%26#39;s quite small . The Deutsches Historisches Museum/German Historical Museum nearby is HUGE , so much so that I%26#39;ve still not seen all of it. There you really have to concentrate ona period or two of history.

The Märkisches Museum concentrates on Berlin history in a traditional way (so very different presentation from Story of Berlin). Being a similar age to your husband I preferred it to Story of Berlin%26#39;s flashing lights etc, and my husband also enjoyed it, as captions etc are translated into English . Artifacts from medieval times on, city models, paintings etc.

Depends on your daughter but I%26#39;d have thought the Pergamon altar and Gates of Ishtar (which arevery colourful and very high) would hold some appeal even at her age.

Near your hotel: Lego discovery centre by the Sony Center.The Sealife Center is near DDR-Museum/German Historical Museum if you want an alternative activity in that area.

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Cheers all - getting very excited, can%26#39;t wait!

kind regards

Allison

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Double decker buses aren%26#39;t a novelty as such to a Londoner but the routes 100 and 200 which both go from Alexanderplatz to Zoologischer Garten and bus M29. 200 and M29 stop near your hotel and all are great cheap alternatives to the hop on, hop off buses.

100 which goes past Reichstag building and through Tiergarten park and 200 (via Potsdamer Platz) are mentioned in all the guidebooks; M29 featured in a %26quot;budget travel%26quot; article budgettravel.com/bt-srv/….

If you need to do any shopping: near your hotel is Potsdamer Platz Arkaden, a nice, midsized shopping centre which also has nice cafes upstairs (wonderful Apfelstrudel in the Viennese cafe) , great ice-cream etc etc. There are two supermarkets among shops in the basement, Aldi, a discounter, and Kaisers. There%26#39;s also an Ampelmann shop with souvenirs featuring the behatted traffic light figures.Lots of Berlin books, and paperbacks in English, in Hugendubel bookshop, upstairs

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Hello

thanks so much for your kind and helpful responses. My husband said it was %26quot;the best holiday I%26#39;ve ever had%26quot;. I love Berlin and can%26#39;t wait to go back. It%26#39;s a really great city and the people were super friendly.

We managed to get round to see some of the things we wanted to (as per your suggestions) but didn%26#39;t manage it all. The location of our hotel was perfect for sight seeing.

best wishes

Allison